


A helping hand in odd places

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Crime Scenes, Gen, Good Parent Charlie Swan, Introspection, Parenthood, Protectiveness, Retrospective, Single Parents, Twilight Renaissance, Vampire Bites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23229124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: The Cullen's have always been a thorn in Charlie's side in one way or another, but when a strange bunch of murders happen in Forks, all seemingly having been killed the same way, maybe the Cullen's and their otherwordly being can help him deal with it
Relationships: Bella Swan & Charlie Swan, Cullen Family & Charlie Swan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	A helping hand in odd places

**Author's Note:**

> I know close to nothing about Twilight so I don't know if Bella tells Charlie about the vampires but... I mean... she should, right??? That's her dad?? And she suddenly has a 10y/o newborn?? And???? Like??? She's gotta???

When Bella had first started hanging out with the Cullen's, they were an absolute bane on Charlie’s existence.

They had always been weird. For as long as he had lived in Forks, Charlie had thought that the family was a bit strange, but kept his distance out of respect. They lived in a big house way out in the middle of nowhere, and that was saying something, considering that the whole of Forks was in the middle of nowhere. But the kids were rarely in town unless it was for school, they didn’t socialize with anyone other than each other, and Charlie thought that he might have seen their mother, maybe twice in his life. 

Carlisle was nice, from the brief encounters that Charlie had with him, after popping into the hospital every now and then and occasionally for something more serious than he’d ever admitted, but again, Charlie hardly ever saw him.

But when Bella moved in, that all changed.

He went from never seeing them to having at least one of them over at his house at all times, from Edward hanging on her every beck and call to Alice, who introduced herself like she had been an old acquaintance from long ago, and who treated Bella like he always wanted her to be treated by high-school girls her age. Gossiping, doing each other’s nails, complaining about boys, not really doing their homework, listening to music too loud in Bella’s room and dancing so violently that their stomping could be heard downstairs over Charlie’s football game. Everything he thought a girl her age would want.

There was the issue of boys, of course. Charlie knew that there came a time in every young woman’s life where the only thing on their minds were boys, and he knew that and he made a vow to himself when Bella was still a baby that he could hold in his arms that he would never be one of those crazy, over-protective dads who gave their daughters a curfew and gave them lectures about safe-sex and would threaten their boyfriends, but why did she have to go and fall in love with Edward-god-damn-Cullen?

He liked to think that he was a good father. That he understood his daughters wants and needs pretty well. Could tell when she wanted space. Could tell when she wanted to curl up on the couch with him and watch bad re-runs and football with some greasy food that was probably no good for them. And he could understand when she was totally, hopelessly in love, and he knew that there wouldn’t be any talking her out of it. Maybe Charlie didn’t really like Edward all that much, but his brief encounters with the rest of the family were always positive experiences, even though there were still three other siblings that Charlie had never even heard of let alone met before, so maybe he was jumping to conclusions. That happened sometimes. Young boys get all skittish when meeting their girlfriend’s dad for the first time, and with Charlie being the Chief of the Forks police force, that probably didn’t help, so maybe he just needed to give Edward another chance?

But he gave him so many chances, again and again, and again. And he was so sick and tired of watching his baby girl get hurt like that over some  _ boy _ .

While it was true that Charlie didn’t always agree with Bella’s decisions and life choices, as nonsensical and dangerous and extreme as they could be on occasion, he knew that she would be safe in the Cullen’s care and that the family was trustworthy and reliable, and they would take care of her when Charlie couldn’t. Or, well, when he wasn’t there. He would always take care of her. But she spent more time at the Cullen’s house nowadays than she did at his, so he had to give up some of that control somewhat.

When they had gotten married, which was an absolute shock to everyone, nobody more so than Charlie, Bella finally told him the truth. Told him that vampires did, in fact, exist and that not only were the Cullen’s these… mythological creatures themselves, Bella had requested that they had turned her into one of them as well and that now she was… well. Charlie still didn’t want to say it out loud. Of course, he hadn’t believed her. Not at first. He might have actually laughed in her face, but it was all a blur. That was, until, she stood at the open window and the sun sparkled on her skin like uncut diamonds, and she told him that it meant that her skin was now impenetrable, and then Charlie had collapsed on the couch in a cold sweat.

It didn’t change how much he loved her. He would always love her. But it was just something he had never expected. Was never even in the realm of possibility. Sure, when kids are younger they read books and watch movies and beg to be a vampire or a werewolf or a fairy when they grow up, but Charlie had never thought that it was actually  _ possible _ .

He still didn’t spend much time around the Cullen’s. He didn’t quite trust them yet, though it was now more about worrying about them biting him than it was them being around his daughter. Their distance and absentness from any activities in town made sense. So did the reason why he only saw a few of the kids the whole time they lived there. While he still saw Carlisle the most at the hospital, there was a new understanding, and respect, and every now and then Charlie would gather the courage to get close enough for an actual conversation when before they would only exchange a few short words. He wasn’t as worried about Bella’s safety now that he knew that she could take care of herself. 

There had been new crimes in Forks, recently. Crimes that Charlie had never seen in his whole career. He liked to think that he was a smart man, not a genius but pretty smart all the same, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how it was happening. Bodies were being found in back alleyways and crammed into dumpsters like discarded toys on boxing day. Some of them weren’t even from town, and Charlie was left with the long task of trying to figure out where they had come from. As far as he knew, it only happened at night, because no camera’s had caught them, and while Forks was a small town in terms of population, everyone was on high alert after the fourth body was found, and it was odd that nobody had seen anything yet. And he trusted his neighbours. A crime like this? Even if they were friends with somebody who caught them, there was no way in hell that they wouldn’t call it in.

It was hard to judge unusual attributes when regarding a dead body, considering that all dead bodies were pale and cold, but one of the most startling things that Charlie noticed about the bodies was the dark circle of bitemarks found randomly on the skin and the faint black veins that only Charlie seemed to notice and that somehow all the bodies seemed to have somewhere on their person.

On a night when the issues seemed to worry particularly heavy on his mind and Bella and Edward were asleep upstairs, Charlie grabbed his keys and got into his car and drove to the outside of town to where the Cullen’s called home.

It was just as large and imposing as he expected, and he still couldn’t understand who needed so many windows, but it seemed homely, and the interior was warmly lit. It looked like the house Bella would describe to him when she thought of her dream home. Somewhere you could start a family. Which was what the Cullen’s had done.

When Charlie knocked on the door, Carlisle opened it a moment later like he was expecting him, and wore a patient, placating smile on his face, almost the same one he wore at the hospital. “Hello there, Mr Swan. What do I owe the honour of this late-night visit?”

“Uh,” Charlie rubbed at the back of his neck. He should have prepared what he was going to say before he knocked on the door. “Sorry about this, Carlisle. And, um, call me Charlie.”

“Charlie, then,” Carlisle smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners. Charlie thought he could see shapes at the top of the stairs. A calmness settled into his bones that took away his worries about the case and he felt a sudden wave of confidence that he needed and was able to look Carlisle in the eye and away from the shadows against the wall. “What can I do for you? You seem rather rattled. Is there something bothering you?”

Nodding, Charlie stuck his hands in his pockets just to give him something to do. “I know that we haven’t known each other for long, not well anyway, but I’ve been struggling with something lately, and I think… I think you and your family are the only ones who can help me.”

Curious, Carlisle moved out of the way and opened the door wider. “Of course. Would you like to come in and talk about this besides the fireplace? Get you out of the cold and damp?”

Awkwardly, Charlie shuffled into the house, feeling very out of place in the fancy house and conscious about the mud on his boots. “Lovely, uh, lovely house you have here.”

“Thank you,’ Carlisle said. “Esme is very proud of her home. What can I do for you, Charlie?”

Licking his lips, Charlie nodded and knew it was time to stop stalling. “There’s been a new string of murder’s in Forks, Carlisle. I’m sure you’ve heard,” Charlie said. Carlisle nodded. “But… something about this case is different from every other case I’ve seen before. I’ve been up close and personal with the bodies, and I have reason to believe that whoever the suspect is? They aren’t exactly… human. Or alive.”

An unfamiliar, cold look came over Carlisle’s face as he gently put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and led him deeper into the house, but Charlie still felt calmer than he would have expected. He thought he could hear the soft pitter-patter of feet descending the stairs. “How about we have a chat in my office then? This issue seems serious enough to get the whole family involved.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, for some reason, when I think of Charlie, I think of Texan. Not Jasper level Texan, but he has that drawl and nods his head a lot, and if I knew he wore a cowboy hat, I'd have him twisting it in his hands. Jasper is a cowboy, Charlie just so happens to have lived in Texas, if you know what I mean.


End file.
